Not yet - it's been 5 business days since the hearing and 3 days since the status changed to completed. Based on everyone's comments, I'm going to wait until next week before I start calling. Thanks for checking back!

I went through this same anxiety-inducing wait last year! The "completed" status is actually misleading because it just means the hearing transcript is finished, not that your decision is ready. In my experience, the actual decision letter took about 8 business days to arrive after the status changed to completed. The decision will be a detailed document (mine was 12 pages) that includes the judge's findings and reasoning, not just a simple win/lose notification. Hang in there - I know the waiting is brutal when you're worried about rent, but you should have your answer soon!

I went through this exact same situation about 8 months ago - ESD denied my CRO petition twice for "voluntary quit" even though my employer cut my hours from 40 to 12 per week. I was so frustrated but the OAH appeal was actually much better than dealing with ESD directly. The judge actually listened to my evidence and understood that I had no choice but to quit when my income dropped 70%. One thing that really helped at my hearing was bringing printed copies of everything - pay stubs showing the hour reduction, emails with my supervisor about needing more hours, even my rent/utility bills to show the financial hardship. The judge said having physical documentation made it much easier to follow my timeline. Also definitely keep filing your weekly claims like others said! I almost made that mistake too. The whole process took about 2 months from filing the OAH appeal to getting my first back payment, but it was so worth it. Hang in there - you have a strong case with that level of hour reduction and the documentation you mentioned.

I'm so sorry you're dealing with this - the whole ESD system seems designed to exhaust people into giving up! I'm currently waiting for my OAH hearing date after two denied CRO petitions too. It's really frustrating how they don't seem to actually read the evidence you submit. From what I've learned lurking here, the OAH judges are much more fair than ESD's initial reviewers. Your situation with a 70% hour reduction sounds like a slam dunk case - that's way above the 25% threshold everyone mentions. One thing I wanted to add that I don't think anyone mentioned yet - make sure you get copies of your entire ESD file before the hearing. You can request this and sometimes there are notes from your employer that you haven't seen that could be helpful (or harmful, so you want to know what they said). Also echoing what others said about continuing to file weekly claims. I made that mistake early on and had to go back and file for all the missed weeks. It's such a pain but necessary if you want full back pay when you win. Keep us posted on how your appeal goes - there are a lot of us going through this same nightmare process and your experience could help others!

If you're really struggling to get information, I had success with that Claimyr service someone mentioned earlier. Worth checking out their demo video to see if it might help you get through to Washington ESD faster.

Bottom line: with your work history at $16-18/hour, you're probably looking at somewhere between $300-500 per week, but could be higher or lower depending on your exact quarters. The only way to know for sure is to file and see what Washington ESD calculates.

just wanna say i feel ur pain... ESD is the WORST!!! moved from seattle to phoenix last year and had to deal with them remotely for 2 months. nightmare. good luck!!!

I went through something similar last year when I moved to Oregon but still had to deal with my Washington ESD claim. A few things that helped me: 1. The messaging system through eServices actually works better than people think - I got responses in 3-4 business days consistently when I was specific about what I needed. 2. For the "additional information" status, check if there's a letter or document request in the "Correspondence" tab. Mine was buried in there and I missed it for weeks. 3. Since you're out of state, make sure his mailing address is updated in the system. Sometimes they mail important documents that never reach you if the address is wrong. 4. I had better luck calling around 2:30-3:00pm PST (5:30-6:00pm your time) - seems like fewer people are trying then. The phone system is still terrible, but don't give up. It took me 6 weeks to resolve my issue, but once I finally got through to someone, they were actually pretty helpful. Keep having him file his weekly claims no matter what - that's crucial!

I'm going through the exact same thing right now! Got approved two weeks ago but all my payments are still showing "pending" with no explanation. It's so stressful not knowing if there's an issue or if it's just their normal slow process. Reading everyone's experiences here is actually really helpful - at least I know I'm not the only one dealing with this. Going to try calling again tomorrow morning right when they open, maybe I'll have better luck getting through then. Thanks for posting about this!

I went through this exact situation about 6 months ago and it was incredibly stressful! My payments were stuck in pending for almost 4 weeks after approval. What finally worked for me was sending a secure message through the ESD portal asking specifically about "payment processing delays" and referencing my claim number. I got a response within a week saying there was an automated hold that needed manual review, and my payments started coming through 3 days after that. Sometimes the secure messaging gets faster responses than calling, especially if you use specific keywords like "payment hold" or "processing delay" in your subject line. Worth trying while you're also attempting to get through by phone!